Learning Giant Steps : Jambole.com

Learning Giant Steps

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I’m a Rock/ Blues Guitarist myself, but I love to explore other styles of music, especially if they offer a unique or different challenge.

“Giant Steps” by John Coltrane is one of those pieces of music that I keep coming back to and rediscovering.

(By the way, if you’ve never heard it before, there’s a great version on YouTube just here).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kotK9FNEYU

Harmonically the chord sequence cycles around three tonal centers (B Major, G Major and Eb Major). This constantly changing key, between such widely different tonal centers, at such a break neck pace is what creates the challenge.

Writing up the chord sequence, we have.

BMaj7 D7   | GMaj7  Bb7  | EbMaj7     | Amin7  D7   |
GMaj7 Bb7  | EbMaj7 F#7  | BMaj7      | Fmin7  Bb7  |
EbMaj7     | Amin7  D7   | GMaj7      | C#min7 F#7  |
BMaj7      | Fmin7  Bb7  | EbMaj7     | C#min7 F#7  ||

I’m sure, with a little hunting you can find the sheet music online.

I’ve approached the mp3 backing track a little differently this time, because the pace of the music is such that a beginner would find this almost impossible to play along to at full speed. Years ago I created a sequencer version of this so I could practice at different speed. So the tracks here are rendered versions of this track.

I’ve rendered 6 different tracks. The first 5 contain a single cycle around the chord sequence at rates of 80, 120, 160, 200, and 240 beats per minute.

The final track is about 3 to 4 minutes at the original speed (286bpm).

The best way to use them is to play them back through software that will allow you to loop. I personally use Audacity, but there are plenty of other packages out there that will allow you to do this. Take the music a bar or 2 at a time to really get the changes under your fingers, and increase speed as you get used to it.

Don’t forget to try playing along as a rhythm guitarist, as well as playing the solo!

Giant Steps 80 bpm
Giant Steps 120 bpm
Giant Steps 160 bpm
Giant Steps 200 bpm
Giant Steps 240 bpm

Giant Steps 286 bpm (Full)

If you find these kinds of backing tracks useful, let me know and I’ll do more of them.

So what scales would I use over this progression? Read more here.

Joe Diorio produced the classic guitarist text for this piece. If you’re interested in reading more, I’d recommend this highly.

Joe Diorio / Giant Steps

Enjoy!